Healthy migrant perspectives on disability and mobility

Welcome to a seminar with Lotta Vikström and her research group who will talk about health, migration and disability from a historical perspective.

Title of the seminar:

"Healthy migrant perspectives on disability and mobility: Demographic and spatial evidence from a 19th-century Swedish population".

Abstract:

Both historically and today, migrations are part of life as young people look for a job or a partner to establishing themselves as adults, however not for all. The 'healthy migrant hypothesis' suggests it requires physical ability to move, while weak health makes people less likely to do. That migrants are positively selected this way can be translated to disabilities.

The study investigates a past population of 35,610 individuals to test the association between poor health and immobility in a group long hidden in history and society because of disabilities. The aim is to obtain knowledge on how disabilities affect human living conditions historically by examining migrations across parishes from life course and healthy migrant perspectives.

This analysis is the first attempt ever to test and confirm the 'healthy migrant hypothesis' regarding disabilities in past populations. The strong association between disability and mobility both across parishes borders and longer distances, suggests that disability implied poor health and lock-in mechanisms.